OB & HRM

Assignment 3

Question: From the reading, “Hiring for Smarts”, share the key idea and then briefly explain
the skills that makeup executive intelligence?

The reading “Hiring for Smart” tells us that companies are searching for managers
and employees but are not finding perfect qualities such as they are majorly
lacking in intelligence. Similarly, the people who are hiring these employees are
also lacking the major tools to measure or to find the cognitive skills that an
employee has in them. Majorly they are using IQ test for measuring these types of
cognitive skill such as intelligence. But these IQ tests are considered for those
people who are excellent performers in academics such as have good vocabulary,
learning skills etc.

Hiring top employees is one of the most important components of an HR

department in an organization but these are only the necessary conditions. The
sufficient condition or real key to hiring "smarter people," "rock stars," etc. is get
over your own fears and insecurities that someone may be smarter, more talented
or more gifted than YOU. The biggest thing that keeps people from hiring the best
is a small piece of fear and insecurity that creeps into the back of their minds about
their own skills and how this hire is good
or bad for them. If you take one thing away from this answer, take this: no matter
how smart or talented you are, there will always be someone smarter. Period. Get
used to it. So, you can either learn to live and thrive with it or let it become a
handicap in your management style. While it’s a bit of a platitude, in my own
experience, there are basically two types of managers:

A. someone who always hires people who they perceive to be less talented than
themselves (i.e., non-threatening);
B. one who always hires people who he/she thinks is at least or even more
talented than themselves.

Unfortunately, the former is by far more prevalent than later. Why? Because most
people have limited personal planning horizons and also see everything as a zero-
sum game. They don't believe the pie can get bigger. From a personal standpoint,
when I managed teams, always tried to hire the best and brightest even if the
talents were greater than mine or their ambition made me uncomfortable. Why?
First, its easier to reel in an overly zealous employee than to constantly prod a
 OB & HRM
Assignment 3
timid one. Secondly, the work world has changed in the past 20 years. No longer
does one just goes to a company and stay for 30-40 years. That is over. The job
you have now will almost certainly not be your last. Since you always have periods
when you are looking for new opportunities, it is better to hire smart, ambitious
people who will become a strong professional network that you can use to catapult
to your next opportunity rather than having a network full of lesser talented people
who are most likely looking to you for their next opportunity.